The present invention relates to an oil/coolant separator and, more particularly, to a machine with a cutting tool or grinding wheel requiring a cooling fluid and having a separator that isolates machine lubricating oil from the coolant with such a high degree of purity that the coolant may be recycled back through the machine.
Machines having cutting tools or grinding wheels are used in metal shaping operations and remove metal from a work piece. Since metal is being removed, the tools and grinding wheels must be hard and retain their hardness as well as their cutting edge even at elevated temperatures, which are reached because of friction created by the cutting or grinding. To lower operating temperatures of the cutting and grinding devices, the associated machines have provisions to supply and direct a cooling fluid over the cutting tool or grinding wheel.
The machines that incorporate the cutting tool or grinding wheel have provisions for storing lubricating oil and the cooling fluid commonly comprising a commercially available coolant, conveying the coolant to the cutting tool or grinding wheel, recapturing the coolant after it has flowed over the cutting tool or grinding wheel and returning the coolant to storage tanks, commonly termed coolant tanks. In the machines related to the present invention, after the coolant flows over the cutting tool or grinding wheel it runs off of, onto and into the machine so as to intermingle with and pick up and gather oil that is being used to lubricate the moving elements, such as the bearings, of the machine. The machines commonly have provisions, such as an oil skimmer, for removing some of the lubricating oil from the coolant after the coolant, carrying along with the lubricating oil, is allowed to enter the coolant tanks. It is desired to remove or separate the lubricating oil from the coolant so that the oil does not find its way onto the workpiece being cut or grinded by the machine whereby it may form an oily film thereon and also so that it does not interfere with the cooling function of the coolant. The oil skimmer may have a round wheel that rotates on the surface of the coolant in the coolant tanks and skims off lubricating oil from the surface, along with coolant, that is passed onto settling tanks that allow the oil to be retrieved therefrom. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the coolant contained in the settling tanks is not fit to be recylced back to the coolant tanks and is treated as contaminated coolant that must be handled, treated and disposed of as a hazardous waste. It is desired that means be provided to reduce the amount of contaminated coolant by more efficiently removing the lubricating oil from the coolant so that a great majority of this coolant, substantially devoid of lubricating oil, may be recycled back to coolant tanks of the machine.